Income and spending improved to start 2018 according to Bureau of Economic Analysis. Pay increased $64.7 billion (an increase of 0.4 percent) in the period. After-tax pay rose even faster, surging 0.9 percent or $134.8 billion. In addition to taking home more money, Americans spent more as well; personal consumption increased $32.4 billion, a rise of 0.2 percent.
Fourth quarter 2017 gross domestic product (GDP) was revised down marginally after more complete data were gathered. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) downgraded the annualized growth rate to 2.5 percent from 2.6 percent in the first estimate. With a change as minor as this, the overall picture of economic growth remains the same.
Friday’s employment report covering February 2018 was strong. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, America’s economy added 313,000 net new jobs. This gain followed an upwardly revised count of 239,000 (originally 200,000) to start this year and an increase of another 15,000 for the December 2017 tally. The unemployment rate held steady at just 4.1 per
Happy Friday! Markets continued swinging throughout the week and could probably use some rest this weekend. After a relatively quiet period last year, 2018 has ushered in a new regime of volatility. However, this is quite standard; it was 2017’s quiescence which was abnormal. Market indicators continue suggesting the path of least resistance is up, but Atlas is not complacent.
Orders for durable goods declined in January 2018 according to the Census Bureau. Falling 3.7 percent to $239.7 billion, this indicator gave back all of December’s downwardly revised gain of 2.6 percent (originally 2.9 percent) and then some. This most recent setback took the year-over-year number down from 11.3 percent to 6.8 percent, signaling some deceleration from the nati
America’s economy was relatively steady in January 2018 according to the latest Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI). This reading slowed to 0.12 from the downwardly revised count of 0.14 (originally 0.27).
Sales of new homes slowed in January 2018 according to the Census Bureau. Signed contracts declined 7.8 percent to 593,000 units on an annualized basis. However, December’s tally was revised upward to 643,000 units (originally 625,000). This latest slowdown caused the year-over-year trend to fall into negative territory for the first time since August 2017.
Atlas has been writing about the tepid nature of the current economic expansion for years. Occasionally, there have been a couple of back-to-back quarters that harken to the trajectories of old (e.g., 2nd & 3rd quarter 2014 and 2nd & 3rd quarters 2017), but on balance America’s output growth has been lackluster, even the final quar
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